The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

An educated and observant consumer isn’t just a good thing on a personal level, but that awareness can spread to others in a positive way. Case in point: a sharp grocery store employee realized that an elderly Kansas woman was about to send $1,900 off to a likely scammer, and so he got involved in order to save her from losing that cash. That’s what we call “spreading the warm fuzzies.”

KCTV5 says the Hy-Vee employee was able to persuade the woman that she shouldn’t send her money to a con artist, after realizing he’d heard a similar tale a month before. He was at the customer service desk when she told him she needed to send $1,900 to the Philippines because her grandson had been in an accident.

“When I heard her story I thought, ‘No way, this is too familiar,'” he told the station. “I started asking questions like, ‘Ma’am, I don’t want to be rude, but are you sure? Do you know your grandson is overseas?’ She said, ‘Well I think so,'” he recalled.

He’d also stopped a man from sending money overseas to a grandson until he made sure that it was definitely going to the right person. The dogged employee kept on the case this time as well, questioning the woman politely.

He asked her if the grandson had said his name during the phone conversation, and she realized he’d just said, “I’m your oldest grandson,” and that she didn’t think her grandson sounded like that.

The employee drew the line right there and told her he wouldn’t send the money, and explained why. She then called the police instead.

“We do more than grocery at Hy-Vee. We will take care of you beyond that. We got you,” the employee said.

Again, cue the warm fuzzies. And continue to help your fellow consumers when you sniff out a scam. It’s a win-win.